Decades after Dolly Parton refused to give Elvis Presley the rights to I Will Always Love You, a 13-year-old Austrian girl, Laura Kamhuber, made the song her own.
Originally a hit for Parton in 1974, the ballad gained worldwide fame when Whitney Houston’s 1992 version became the best-selling single by a female solo artist.
In 2013, Kamhuber performed the song during her The Voice Kids blind audition in Germany, astonishing all three judges. German pop star Tim Bendzko called it the “forbidden song,” joking that Houston’s range made it nearly impossible to sing—yet Kamhuber delivered flawlessly.
Though she was later eliminated, her audition has amassed 226 million YouTube views, making it the most-watched video by an Austrian artist. Now performing as Laura Lun, she has released three albums, blending pop, country, and ballads, with her latest album debuting in 2017.
